


Inquisitive

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, F/M, Fluff, Kittens, Rumbelle Showdown, enchanted forest, rumbelle showdown reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 05:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14826431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: My first round entry for the 2018 rumbelle showdown under the pseudonym Agnes. The prompts were: broken mason jars; train; fogBelle has a new pet in the Dark Castle, and she's causing a bit of trouble in Rumpel's workroom...





	Inquisitive

“Don’t breathe in the smoke!”

Rumplestiltskin’s muffled warning came just in time as Belle raced into his laboratory, alerted to some kind of catastrophe by the loud explosion and even louder cursing that had occurred just a few seconds before. Before she took another breath, she grabbed a handkerchief out of her pocket and pressed it firmly over her mouth and nose. 

The magical fog in the laboratory was so thick that she could barely see in front of her face, and even through the handkerchief, the stench was so acrid that it was eye-watering. Although she could not see Rumple, she could hear him coughing. 

In spite of herself, Belle had to admit that there was a certain beauty to the fumes, swirling around the room in sparkling blue and purple jewel colours, and she thought that it was typical that only Rumplestiltskin could produce something so deadly and yet so pretty. Presently she heard the click of his fingers and a spell fumbled through a handkerchief, and a light wind began to stir the fog, swirling it around the room until it finally left through the window and the full extent of the damage was revealed.

To say that the laboratory looked like an ogre had rampaged through it would be a vast understatement, and Belle knew, with a sinking heart, that it was something far smaller than an ogre that had caused the destruction. In the middle of the workbench, surrounded by shattered bottles and broken mason jars, was a creature that at one point might have been recognisable as a curious black kitten.

Having been in the middle of the explosion and not being able to grab a handkerchief to prevent inhalation, the kitten was now showing signs of what would have happened if Belle or Rumplestiltskin had breathed in the smoke. Her once black fur was now covered in spangles, making her look like a very artistic night sky, at least in the places where she was not bright blue. Her whiskers had been completely blown off by the magic, and she was blinking up at Belle in surprise, flicking her ears, which were twice their usual size. She attempted to give a pitiful mew, but the sound that came out was more akin to a duck’s quack than anything else.

Belle sighed, and seeing that Rumplestiltskin had removed the handkerchief from his face, discarded her own and went over to pluck the troublesome pet out of the chaos she had caused.

“Ebony, what have you done now?”

“She’s destroyed my life’s work, that’s what she’s done,” Rumplestiltskin groused. “Look at all this! It’s ruined! At least she didn’t get into the herbs that can only be gathered at sunrise on a blue moon once in the century.” He continued to grumble as he sifted through the broken clay and glass, picking up the odd piece and tossing it back down into the mess. Belle just looked on, scratching Ebony behind her huge ears.

“Rumple…” she began eventually.

“What?” he snapped.

“I know that she’s not your favourite kitten at the moment, but will she be like this for long?” Belle held up her startled pet, who glittered in the candlelight and gave another pathetic quack. Rumplestiltskin narrowed his eyes.

“As far as I’m concerned, she can stay like that forever,” he grumbled. “But no, the effects will wear off after a while. I can’t say how long, I don’t know the exact quantities that got mixed.” He gave up on his salvage mission in the end, sweeping his hand in a grandiose gesture across the workbench and vanishing the entire lot. “Knowing our luck, the ingrate will be shedding glitter all around the castle for the next three months.”

Belle suppressed a giggle; she didn’t think that Rumple was in the mood to see the funny side. At least he no longer appeared to be angry at the loss of his ingredients, and he seemed to think that Ebony’s unfortunate transmogrification was punishment enough for her crimes. She was only a baby after all, incredibly inquisitive and curious about all the interesting new things in her new home.

“You have got to train her,” Rumple said, pointing an accusing finger at the kitten. “Otherwise, I might have second thoughts.”

It was the closest that he had ever come to admitting that he had procured the kitten for her as a companion. A few weeks ago he had been making the odd comment implying that he worried about her when he was out on deals that took him away from the castle for any length of time. At first Belle had thought that he was worried for her safety, given the incident with the Queens of Darkness, but after some gentle probing it became clear that he feared that she would get lonely by herself in the Dark Castle. Although Belle had assured him that she was perfectly fine and she had more than enough books to keep her company, a few days later, Ebony had appeared in a box beside her usual chair in the library. He had denied that he was behind the acquisition for a long time, but now it was as clear as day that he had got her a companion, and a very cute one at that. Even if she did have a kitten’s natural tendency to get into things that she shouldn’t.

“I’ll get right on it,” Belle assured him, cuddling Ebony in closer against her chest and bopping her nose with a fingertip. “Rumple’s workroom is off limits, young lady,” she said, before turning back to Rumple. “You know, if you kept the door closed then you wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Considering the amount of times that I have found her in here, I am not certain that would keep her out,” Rumplestiltskin muttered. “Kittens are liquid; they can get in through the smallest cracks.”

“Well, with any luck, today’s misadventures should have dampened her enthusiasm for this particular room.”

“They had better have done.” Rumple looked around the now-clean space - cleaner than Belle had ever seen it, if she was being honest - and he gave a sigh. “I’d better go out and restock. And if I find anything out of place in here when I return…” He glared at Ebony, who gave an alarmed quack. Rumple just sniffed emphatically and made to stalk out of the room past Belle and her kitten, but at the last moment, his expression melted and he reached out to pet her. After a couple of ear scratches, he came to himself and rushed out of the room at a pace that seemed to suggest he was trying to deny that the moment of tenderness had ever happened, and Belle just giggled to herself.

“You know, Ebony, I think you might just be winning him over.”


End file.
